Welcome to the JCCC Japanese Shorts Festival!

Each year, the JCCC Japanese Shorts Festival (JSF) invites Japanese language students to form production teams of one to four members to write and produce their own original Japanese language (English subtitled) short films.

Student shorts can be in any genre - drama, comedy, horror, mystery, musical, documentary or anything else the students' imaginations can come up with.  And the shorts can take any form - live action, anime, puppetry, stop action or a combination of any or all of these.  Take a look at the 2025 1st Annual JSF winners in Archives and all the 2026 2nd Annual JSF entries in 2026 Student Shorts to see what past teams have produced.

After all final entries are submitted, a panel of five judges determines which shorts should receive awards in the following seven categories:

Best Script (Anime)

Best Script (Live Action)

Best Acting (Live Action)

Best Voice Acting (Anime) 

Best Original Idea (Live Action or Anime)

Best Technical Work (Live Action or Anime) 

Best All-Around Japanese Shorts Festival Film

Prizes are announced and awarded at the Japanese Shorts Festival Screening and Awards Ceremony in the spring.  The filmmakers, their friends, family, classmates, and professors are invited to enjoy the films, participate in Japanese games and audience contests, and chow down on complimentary sushi and Japanese snacks before the annual Festival winners are announced.